A bike ICU that reaches an accident victim in quick time, a pre-school for tiny tots with hearing loss, an app that measures the noise levels around it were among the innovations showcased at the Bangalore Health Festival that concluded on Sunday.
Thousands of visitors thronged the three-day festival. The event brought together health-conscious, students, educators, doctors, housemakers and others. Hundreds of visitors benefited from various check-ups done through state-of-the-art machines.
Vishwanath Eakbote, a retired professional, said, “I got to know about different services offered by hospitals and the government. The free health checkups and consultations by doctors were very good.” A panel discussion on ‘Alcoholic liver disease and liver transplant’ by eminent doctors threw light on the ill-effects of alcohol on the liver and transplant possibilities for people with damaged liver.
A unique session on ‘End of Life Care’ by Dr Roop Gursahani highlighted the need for healthcare for patients in the final stage of their lives and for patients with a terminal illness. There was a session on ‘stress and mental health in doctors,’ an often ignored element of the profession.
“It helped me interact with various medical colleges and courses they offer. The health check-ups helped us avail services not easily available outside,” said Anusha Hariharan, a physiotherapy student.
Recognising the potential of saving a life by administering medical help within the first hour of a mishap, a city-based hospital has come up with a bike ICU (Intensive Care Unit) that reaches the patient fast.
To avail the service, one has to register on the ‘BEAST (Brookefield Emergency Accident Support Team) phone application. A database of patients or users is thus built. A magnetic sticker inscribed with emergency contact number and registration number is provided. In case of emergency, the user can call the emergency no and quote the registration number.
“Our emergency team receives the call and gets the details of the patient through the App on their phone. The BEAST bike ICU starts in 30 seconds and rapidly commutes through traffic to reach the patient’s site in a few minutes. The trained ERT team administers emergency treatment. Once he is stable, the team shifts the patient to the nearest hospital,” said Nithin Raghu from Brookefield hospital that provides the service.
Listening-ears by Starkey is a unique early intervention school for children with hearing-related challenges. With the help of parents, the school works towards equipping the children with skills to help them enrol in mainstream schools, said Rupa Sawant, auditory verbal therapist.
Another innovation featured was a phone application that measures noise levels around it. Called ‘SoundCheck,’ the app by Starkey Hearing Technologies allows to measure environmental noise levels to help one evaluate his or her hearing abilities. It determines whether the noise is within normal range or if one has a potential hearing loss,” said Arshad Hussain from Hearing Health Care Clinic.
Published 07 May 2017, 19:49 IST